March 29, 2024

Cardinals halt six-match losing skid

Newton goes 1-1 in home triangular

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Dropping their sixth volleyball match in a row, Newton High’s Cardinals turned the corner at home Thursday. They had fallen to Class 3A 15th-ranked North Polk’s Comets 21-15, 21-18 in the first match of the night.

To end the triangular, Newton faced South Tama’s Trojans and the Cardinals rang up their third win of the season. They defeated the Trojans, 21-17, 21-16. They led 11-1 in the second set.

“It felt good to get the ‘W’ tonight,” senior Taylor Shipley said. “We just decided to connect as a team in the last match. We put everything together we’ve been working so hard for.”

North Polk went 2-0 on the Cardinals’ court, beating South Tama 21-18, 21-11.

Newton pushed out to a 4-2 lead on North Polk to open the competition. The Comets rattled off five straight points to take the lead.

The Cardinals trailed 10-9 when senior Ryanne Rausch toed the service line. Rausch served up three points, including an ace serve and a kill by Shipley. Newton was up 14-12, but the Comets took control with a five-point serving run on their way to a 21-18 set win.

Newton and North Polk were back-and-forth in the second set. Junior Audrey Lucas served up three points — the third on an ace — to move the Cardinals into a 10-6 lead. Newton maintained its lead to a 15-12 count.

North Polk’s Courtney Bonewitz went on a six-point serving run to put the Comets in front for good. The Comets held off the Cardinals for four more rotations to claim the match victory.

Lucas and Lee each had four service points while senior Megan Pressgrove and Rausch served up three points apiece. Shipley and senior Morgan Allen had one point each.

At the net, Pressgrove pounded down six kills and Shipley had five kills. Allen had two assisted blocks while Lucas and Pressgrove each had one block assist. Pressgrove and Shipley were each credited with six set assists.

Rausch, Newton’s libero, had 17 digs and Lucas came up with four digs. Shipley numbered three digs while Lee and Pressgrove each had two digs.

“We aren’t a team which can afford to go through the motions,” Newton head coach Ashley Carter said. “Once we lost to North Polk, the girls finally got fired up. Volleyball is such a mental game. You have to be mentally tough and prepared to lay it all on the court. Our start was slow, but thankfully, we got our momentum back and got the win against South Tama.”

The Trojans were up 8-3 when Pressgrove unloaded for a kill to get the serve to Newton. Allen served three points for the Cardinals then Newton moved into the lead on a two-point run by Pressgrove.

The first set was tied four times down the stretch. It was 17-all when junior Carter Lee came in to serve. Carter rang up an ace on her first serve then Pressgrove had two straight kills. Newton recorded a 21-17 first-set win.

“Our energy levels at first weren’t as high as we wanted them to be,” Rausch said. “Once we a became more energized, we started picking up the tempo.”

In the second set with South Tama, Newton was locked in a 3-3 tie. The Cardinals moved to front on a three-point serving stint by Allen and never trailed again.

“Morgan and Rachel (Berkland) did really good in true middle getting the blocks up. They closed the blocks more tonight, which helped our defensive play,” Rausch said.

Leading the net attack, Pressgrove delivered 11 kills followed by six kills from Shipley against South Tama. Shipley had nine set assists and Pressgrove put up six assists. Shipley, Berkland and Lucy Lilienthal each had one solo block and one block assist.

From the serving line, Allen and Lee had six points followed by four points from Rausch. Lucas and Pressgrove had three service points and Shipley had two points. One service ace was recorded by Lee, Rausch, Lucas and Shipley.

Shipley was credited with 12 digs and Rausch and eight digs. Allen, Lee and Pressgrove each had four digs and Lucas had two digs.

“We need to work on our passing a little bit more — move our feet to get into position,” Shipley said. “We need everyone to contribute as a team.”

Newton, 3-6, heads into its first road test of the season. The Cardinals take a 0-2 Little Hawkeye Conference mark into the 7:15 p.m. match Tuesday at Grinnell.

The Newton junior varsity and freshman teams played Thursday at home, but no scores were reported by presstime.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com